


A Matter of Trust

by Pilarcraft



Series: A Smarter Man (The Dragon Prince) [4]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Dark Magic, Lorebuilding, Most of this is just explanation, Worldbuilding, like most of the stuff I write, rather than any actual plot or dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:54:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27818587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pilarcraft/pseuds/Pilarcraft
Summary: In hindsight, this was funny, Viren could see. Just as Harrow had had a pragmatic, realist voice to his ear to correct his more idealistic tendencies -far be it from Viren to call his dear friend foolish, Callum could in the future correct the Crown Prince’s tendencies when he was to eventually ascend. He had hoped it would be Claudia holding Prince Ezran’s ear, but Callum could be a much better choice -both easier for Ezran to trust and less prone-to-forgetfulness. Viren loved his children and they were both bright and intelligent in their own way, but rational adult they were not. That Callum -a puppet he hadn’t even known he could eventually have gotten to mold- was so out of his reach now was unacceptable for the vision he had for Katolis or humanity as a whole.
Relationships: Callum & Claudia (The Dragon Prince), Claudia & Viren (The Dragon Prince), Soren & Viren (The Dragon Prince), Zym & Claudia
Series: A Smarter Man (The Dragon Prince) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1282421
Kudos: 8





	A Matter of Trust

“Why didn’t you tell me Callum was a mage?”

_What?_

Viren paused, and after a second –or two- turned towards his daughter. He repeated, this time aloud, “what?”

“Callum. The spare prince. Why didn’t you tell me he was a mage?”

“I was not aware of it, clearly.” He responded, “What do you mean Prince Callum is a mage?”

“Exactly what I’m saying. He has the ability to draw runes and channel the power of a Primal Stone through them. Oh, the cheeky little brat has a memetic memory too. He drew _Aspiro_ after seeing me cast it once when I was showing off.”

“This changes everything,” Viren muttered, a hand at his chin as he went to thought. “I’m not sure if it’ll change things in a _good_ way yet, but change things it will.”

He wondered what Harrow would think if he knew his step- and for all intents and purposes adopted- son took more in his talents after Harrow and Sarai’s somewhat-estranged friend rather than either of them. The young prince had taken to practicing his blade recently, but if Soren -his primary tutor- was to be trusted, and he had no reason not to trust his son in the handful of topics he was had knowledge in, he had little skill with it, if any.

Viren supposed he may have learned this _anyway_ by the end of the month had Thunder’s mate not decided to retaliate this soon. Prince Callum would be reaching his fifteenth nameday soon, and even though Harrow had -against the wish of most of his council- overlooked his adopted son’s education thus far, he would _have_ to begin training by the council -which, of course, included Viren in his capacity as the High Mage- after his birthday. Well, if a new council even had time to convene and if- Regardless, that was a non-issue now.

Magic isn’t common among humans. Viren, of all people, knew this. A mage’s life is dangerous and its lifestyle nigh-lethal for all but the most disciplined and driven men. The reagents one might require for continued practice are hard to find in the Human Kingdoms, and an expedition into Xadia to find more ingredients is simply too dangerous for any mage to commit to too often. What’s more, mages simply do not train successors. Viren himself was self-educated, and he had the uncommon opportunity of having struck a fast friendship with a scion of the line of the Orphan Queen, and none of the small number of mages he knew of had any plans of taking a new apprentice. Viren himself was an exception in this regard, and only because he had the (mis)fortune of raising a child with an affinity for Viren’s particular field of study. What’s worse, magic isn’t trusted -Viren was self-aware enough to concede there was a perfectly sound reasoning behind this widespread lack of trust, the purely emotional backlash against the sometimes-unsavory manifestation of a mage’s casting notwithstanding.

In hindsight, this was funny, Viren could see. Just as Harrow had had a pragmatic, realist voice to his ear to correct his more idealistic tendencies -far be it from Viren to call his dear friend foolish, Callum could in the future correct the Crown Prince’s tendencies when he was to eventually ascend. He had hoped it would be Claudia holding Prince Ezran’s ear, but Callum could be a much better choice -both easier for Ezran to trust and less prone-to-forgetfulness. Viren loved his children and they were both bright and intelligent in their own way, but rational adult they were not. That Callum -a puppet he hadn’t even _known_ he could eventually have gotten to mold- was so out of his reach now was unacceptable for the vision he had for Katolis or humanity as a whole.

“Change of plans,” he spoke again after some silence. By this point, Claudia -well used to his habit of talking more with the only person truly able to keep up with him- had got back to making faces at the mirror.

“Let me guess,” Claudia said, “I’ll have to test Callum? See how skilled he _really_ is?”

“I’d appreciate it if you could,” Viren conceded, tipping his head to explain he had not thought of that himself, “Both in the Sky Arcanum and -if possible- in any other. But no,” he shook his head, “What I need is for you to begin the young prince’s training. I fear that certain events have-“ here an image of the mostly one-sided conversation they had shared only hours ago adorned his thoughts- “ensured I won’t have that privilege at least now. Do tell your brother to-“

“You have a new mission for him too, right? Providence knows this might help with his jelly tarts thing.”

“-yes. Tell him to come here next.”

Claudia would not know this -Soren was many things, but he did not reveal secrets- but Viren knew perfectly the reason for his son’s stress-eating. In hindsight, it may not have been intelligent to tell a young duty-bound man that he should try to assassinate two of the four people he was tasked by duty to defend from assassins. Soren’s little ‘jelly tart’ problem might then change once he was to tell him his new mission.

* * *

Claudia’s first attempt to test Callum’s talents was a failure, she could say with certainty. For starters, Callum had lost her Primal Stone, which made testing his skill with sky magic kind of impossible. That’s _just_ not supposed to be possible, and yet the little brat somehow had done it. A relic that had been in her family for generations, one that could trace its days as far back as even before Elarion itself, withstanding the extinction of unicorns, the Dragon War, the expulsion east, the Mage Wars, and even two battles with a Dragon King; and then some fledgling mage breaks the thing only four days after he gets his hands on it. Granted, the reason for it was well worth the stone that had been destroyed -and Claudia _still_ couldn’t believe this scaly little baby would one day be enforcing humanity’s continued exile from their ancestral home. Hopefully, Claudia would not be alive by that point, or she didn’t know how she’d look her fellow man in the eye. Well, to be fair Ezran did have a great deal of influence on the adorable little thing, apparently, so maybe this little baby dragon wasn’t as utterly _lost_ as its father and two predecessors.

To be perfectly honest, Claudia had little hope to even come close to fulfill her mission at this point. She had hoped that Callum and Ezran had been kidnapped. Or that they had at least been coerced in one way or the other. Something she could justify this level of treason against humanity itself, but everything she had seen suggested that the princes were in this willingly, and Claudia would have, _could have_ , no part of returning the Dragon Prince to a mother that would raise it into a second Thunder. Besides, it’s not like Callum -at least- would take her back into their group at this point. To see the glass half-full, she could say for sure now that Callum _had_ an affinity for magic just as much as he had for the elementals so that part of her mission was a success. It came to the boy naturally in ways it didn’t even to Claudia -and the part of her that wasn’t worried for him given _what_ Callum had to be going through now after his first attempt at magic was extremely jealous.

The problem was, returning home alongside Ezran and his retinue was just out of question. Dad had had little communications with them since before the Cursed Caldera, and honestly, she wasn’t sure _how_ she could explain that not only had she failed to secure the egg’s return, but that it simply _wasn’t_ an egg anymore. Soren at least could say he had done his job to a degree -his primary charge, the King, was coming back home with him after all, even if Callum was probably all the way over the Breech by now.

Claudia, for the first time ever since the Moonshadow Elves had attacked, had no idea what to do. She couldn’t go back -return to dad and tell him she lost the egg, oh by the way it’s not even an egg anymore and that she’s got as much hope of ever working alongside, much less training, Callum as Lord Viren himself?- or somehow find two kids and a baby dragon somewhere in the vast continent of Xadia?

Frankly, before she could even make her decision, it had been made for her, and it was majestic.

“I smell death”, the Archdragon, locked between two pieces of rock, grumbled.

_Oh_.

**Author's Note:**

> Consider the first, larger part of this to happen directly after the ending of The Heirs Apparent. I'm not sure where I'm hoping to take this story from, but while there are some similarities, it's not going where the canon is.


End file.
